Mission Statement

As part of the federal government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Eye Institute’s mission is to “conduct and support research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to blinding eye diseases, visual disorders, mechanisms of visual function, preservation of sight, and the special health problems and requirements of the blind.”

Third-Party Websites and Applications (TPWA)

NEI conducts a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for each use of a third-party website as they may have a different functionality or practice. For further information about NEI privacy policy, please contact the NEI Privacy Coordinator.

AddThis: NEI uses the AddThis service to allow you to bookmark and share our website content on a variety of social media sites. If you use the AddThis service to share content, you do not need to register or provide any personally identifiable information (PII). AddThis collects non-personal data, including the aggregate and summary statistics on browsers and usage patterns. AddThis also uses non-personal data to manage the service efficiently and diagnose server problems. Although AddThis offers some analytics and usage data to NEI, these reports do not include any PII. The reports are password protected and only available to the NEI communications and web teams, and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties. The AddThis privacy policy is available at http://www.addthis.com/privacy.

Bitly: NIH uses Bitly to shorten long URLs for use in email messages, Twitter feeds and on Facebook pages. Bitly collects and provides data on how often you as an email recipient or Facebook/Twitter user, click on the shortened URLs distributed by NEI staff. Bitly analytics show how many people clicked on the URLs posted by NEI, compared to the total number of clicks on the shortened URLs. Bitly analytics do not provide any personally identifiable information (PII) about the visitors who open the shortened links. The Bitly privacy policy is available at https://bitly.com/pages/privacy.

Facebook: The NEI currently has a Facebook page for the National Eye Health Education Program. On the NEHEP Facebook page, NEI staff posts information, resources, and news related to eye health and vision research. If you have a Facebook account or ‘like’ the NEHEP Facebook page, you can post comments or click on the ‘like’ option for individual entries. If you comment or click on the ‘like’ button, personally identifiable information (PII) will be visible to NEI staff and other Facebook users. The amount of visible PII will depend on your own Facebook privacy settings. You can avoid displaying any personally identifiable information by not creating an account, not posting comments and not clicking on the ‘like’ options in Facebook. NEI staff does not collect, use or disclose any information about visitors who comment on or ‘like’ the NEHEP Facebook site. Facebook collects and reports non-identifying information about activities on Facebook pages. This type of information from the NEHEP Facebook page is password protected and only available to the NEI communications and web teams, and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties. The Facebook privacy policy is available at: http://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

Flickr:NEI uses Flickr to upload and share photos and images related to the NEI mission. NEI is responsible for the uploaded images on NEI-sponsored Flickr pages and must ensure that the images assigned for posting meet NEI quality standards and comply with all NIH, HHS, and federal policies. Images posted are produced by NEI and may include medical illustrations and other scientific images. Photos posted may also include pre-approved photos of NEI employees at events or in labs and clinics for the purpose of promoting the NEI mission. You do not need to register with Flickr to view the images on NEI Flickr sites. However, if you choose to register, you will not provide personally identifiable information (PII) directly to NEI. Most information you provide for a Flickr account is available to the public, but you can modify how much of your information is visible by changing your privacy settings. NEI staff members monitor the number of subscribers and respond to comments and queries via Flickr, but the staff never takes possession of the personal information belonging to Flickr followers. NEI does not collect, maintain, disclose or share any information about people who follow NEI on Flickr. The Flickr privacy policy is available at http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/flickr/details.html

LinkedIn: NEI currently has a company page on LinkedIn. On the NEI LinkedIn page, NEI staff posts information, resources, and news related to eye health, vision research, employment opportunities, and funding announcements. If you have a LinkedIn account or ‘follow’ the NEI company page, you can post comments or click on the ‘like’ option for individual entries. If you comment or click on the ‘like’ button, personally identifiable information (PII) will be visible to NEI staff and other LinkedIn users. The amount of visible PII will depend on your own LinkedIn privacy settings. You can avoid displaying any personally identifiable information by not creating an account, not posting comments and not clicking on the ‘like’ options in LinkedIn. NEI staff does not collect, use or disclose any information about visitors who comment on or ‘like’ the NEI LinkedIn site. LinkedIn collects and reports non-identifying information about activities on LinkedIn pages.

NEI also uses the “groups” feature on LinkedIn to engage with current and past employees and members of the public. In order to join the NEI group on LinkedIn, you must register for a LinkedIn account and provide your first and last name and e-mail address. Upon confirmation of your email address, you must provide LinkedIn with information regarding your employment, country, zip code, job title, etc. The amount of visible personal information will depend on your LinkedIn user privacy settings. You can completely avoid displaying any PII by not creating a LinkedIn account, not joining the NEI LinkedIn group, or not interacting with the NEI LinkedIn group in any way (i.e., private messaging, posting on group pages, etc.). Although NEI staff managing LinkedIn may view the information you provide when you submit a request to join, NEI staff does not collect, use, or disclose any of this information. The LinkedIn Privacy Policy is available at http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=privacy_policy&trk=hb_ft_priv

Pinterest:NEI Pinterest boards contain entries or “pins” with eye information, news and other items related to eye health and vision research. The boards are managed by NEI staff. If you have a Pinterest account, you can log in to your account to post comments, ‘like’ and ‘repin’ NEIpostings and individual entries. When you chose to ‘like’, comment or ‘repin’ an item from an NEI Pinterest board, your personally identifiable information (PII) will be visible to NEI staff and other Pinterest users. You can avoid displaying any PII by not creating a Pinterest account, not posting comments, not clicking on the ‘like’ options and not sharing items from the NEI Pinterest page or NEI websites. NEI does not collect, use or disclose any information about visitors who comment, share, or ‘like’ the NEI Pinterest sites or posts. The Pinterest privacy policy is available at http://about.pinterest.com/privacy/

Twitter: We use Twitter to send short messages (up to 140 characters) or ‘Tweets’ to share National Eye Institute (@NatEyeInstitute) or National Eye Health Education Program (@NEHEP) messages with visitors and respond to comments and inquiries sent via Twitter. While visitors may read the NEI or NEHEP Twitter feeds without subscribing to them, visitors who want to subscribe to (or follow) NEI or NEHEP Twitter feeds must create a Twitter account at https://about.twitter.com/. To create an account, you must provide some personally identifiable information (PII), such as name, user name, password and email address. Visitors have the option to provide additional personal information including a short biography, location or a picture. Most information you provide for a Twitter account is available to the public, but you can modify how much of your information is visible by changing your privacy settings at the Twitter.com website. NEI staff members monitor the number of subscribers and respond to comments and queries via Twitter, but the staff never takes possession of the personal information belonging to Twitter followers. NEI does not collect, maintain, disclose or share any information about people who follow NEI or NEHEP on Twitter. The Twitter privacy policy is available at: http://twitter.com/privacy.

YouTube: NEI posts videos on its YouTube channel . You do not need to register with either YouTube or Google (YouTube’s parent company) to watch NEI videos. Whenever you watch a video, YouTube may record non-personally identifiable information about your viewing experience, such as channels used, videos watched, and data transfer rates to improve its services. If you log on to the YouTube site before watching NEI videos, YouTube may associate information about your site use with your YouTube account. If you log on to YouTube and comment on a NEI video, any personally identifiable information (PII) you included when registering for your account will be visible to visitors who click on the comment. If you do not log in before watching NEI videos posted on YouTube, your site use will not be associated with you or a YouTube account. The YouTube privacy policy is available at: http://www.youtube.com/t/privacy.